Plaster Materials. Continued

Description

Plaster Materials. Continued

If too much water is used in slaking the lime - especially if a too great amount is added at once - the pile is chilled and forms into lumps that slake too tardily. If too little water is added, the lime is left so dry (burns, as the plasterers call it) that many small particles entirely fail to slake through lack of sufficient moisture. When too much water drowns the lime in the first place, it becomes so thoroughly chilled that a considerable portion of its strength is lost; and the process of slaking is, by the very excess of water, much retarded. The process is also slowed up if very cold water is added, although the water soon becomes heated from the reaction of the lime. At the start, just enough water should be put on to initiate the slaking process. After this, as the slaking proceeds, more water should be added as needed, taking care to keep the lime thoroughly moist at all times. A very active and quick slaking lime should be covered with water from the very beginning, to guard against the possibility of burning. If the lime once burns, it will afterward be impossible, by any amount of working, to get out all the fine lumps that are then caused. Rich lime will afterwards work cool, is little likely to crack, and bears troweling when being finished, without the surface peeling off, blistering, or staining.

If lumps of unslaked lime escape through the screen when the lime is run off, and get mixed into the mortar, it becomes very difficult to eradicate them afterward. It is not possible for the plasterer to get these lumps out of the mortar when working it on the wall; and the results of their afterwards slaking out will continue to appear long after the house is finished. If they occur in the first coat, at various times after the work is completed - frequently extending throughout the entire first year - these lime lumps will suddenly blow or expand, forcing out the surface plastering outside them and making a large blister or lump, generally about an inch in diameter, which, if upon the ceiling, almost invariably falls off. If this unslaked lime gets into the final coat, much the same result occurs, although the particles are of necessity smaller in size. Instead of being large, the resulting holes are then comparatively small, running generally about the size of the head of a pin, and the entire surface of the plastering is frequently pitted, the particles thrown off appearing about the room in the shape of a white dust.

In the brown rough-coat, the spots of white, unslaked lime are quite easy to see, as they are often the size of a bean or pea. However, in the final white coat, these spots, being smaller and of the same color as the rest of the mortar, do not show.

After it has once begun to warm up, the lime should be worked or stirred thoroughly during the process of slaking, so that, after the action has been completed, it will be of the consistency of a pasty cream. After slaking, the lime should be run off through a fine sieve (No. 5 screen) put at the end of the slaking box, into the next lower compartment, or mortar-bed. The screen is intended to keep out any lime lumps too large to slake before the mortar is used, or any flinty settlement that may be found in the lime, and to allow only a pure and thoroughly mixed hydrate to be admitted to the bed.

When drawing or running off the lime, a large supply of sand already screened should be at hand to scatter in the bottom of the mortar-bed and to use for stopping leaks that may appear as the box gradually fills. This screened sand should be sufficient in amount to complete the mortar mixture. An ample supply of water, either in barrels or in hose piped from a hydrant, should also be ready at hand- to avoid any possibility of the lime burning.

For the putty or finish coat, the paste should be made even thinner before running off, and may be of the consistency of milk. The sieve through which it is strained should also be finer, of about the mesh of an ordinary flour or meal screen. The paste for this coat is often obtained by running off the lime a second time, as by this means a cooler working putty is secured.

The length of time that mortar for plastering should be mixed before being used, is a much-discussed question. It is generally stated in architectural specifications, that "the mortar should be mixed ten days or two weeks before using." As a matter of fact, this requirement is not always wise or desirable. It is true that, in old English work, lime mortar was left covered over with earth to stand for long periods of time, often six months to three years elapsing before it was used. In this country, such slow-going methods are not to be expected. While lime does gain in strength by standing in this thin putty state before sand or other materials have been mixed with it, yet three or four weeks, at the least, are necessary before the increase becomes very apparent. It is also necessary that the paste should remain moist, by being kept covered all the time. At the end of the fourth month its strength will have increased about one-fifth, and most of this gain has been made during that month. From then on the gain continues, but gradually decreases in amount.

It is more economical for the plasterer to use a lime that has been slaked for some weeks, as, when tempered down, it will work freely with the admixture of a much larger proportion of sand than is taken up by lime mixed as soon as it can be readily worked. This extra amount of sand does not add to the strength of the mortar; but, as it causes the lime to cover a greater surface, it is a considerable economy for the contractor, made, however, at the expense of the quality of his work.

Lime mortar need be left standing only long enough for all its particles to be thoroughly slaked, and, if properly mixed and wet down in the first case, a great deal of time need not be required to effect that result. This once secured, the quicker the mortar is mixed and put upon the building, the better and stronger will be the plastering that is obtained. It is further claimed that the accompanying loss of limewater is also very harmful, as this water - from the properties which it has already absorbed from the lime - is much better suited for carrying on the process of mixing than newly added clean water. Yet, if the lime has been long standing, it may be necessary to add clean water to replace the water lost by evaporation or seepage, although mortar mixed with clean water never becomes so hard as that mixed with the water obtained in slaking the lime.

The sand and hair are next added, the hair being put in before the mortar becomes too stiff to work readily. After the sand is mixed, the mortar should not be left to stand for any length of time, as it would become considerably set and a loss of strength would result. If the mortar does become set in the bed, reworking would be necessary before it could be put upon the walls. The strength then lost bears a direct relation to the length of time it has stood, and the solidity it has attained, before this final working up.

In plastering mortar where hair is required, a still further loss of strength would result, as the hair would be so rotted or eaten by its long exposure to the action of the wet lime as to be almost or quite worthless. The hair cannot well be mixed evenly, except at the time when the mortar is first run off, while it is in a very thin paste. If, after a lime-and-sand mixture had been standing for some months, it were attempted to bring it to a sufficiently fluid state to receive the hair properly, by wetting it down a second time a considerable proportion varying from a quarter up to almost a half - of its strength would be sacrificed.

Bearing these facts in mind - once certain that the lime is slaked it would appear better that not more than a week should elapse before the use of this mortar; and a less time than that is, under many circumstances, undoubtedly desirable. It is evident that no more lime-and-sand mortar should be mixed at one time than can be used within a few days at the most. The length of time that mortar should be allowed to stand, is determined more or less by the dryness or moisture of the atmosphere. The dryer the atmosphere, the shorter the time, as the setting of the mortar is, in part, a chemical result of the drying out, or evaporation, of the water of crystallization, as it is called.

It has already been said that limes made in different parts of the country vary extensively in their chemical composition and properties.

A knowledge of the chemical composition of lime mortars and the individual peculiarities of the lime locally used, is necessary before applying or attempting to utilize the principles here set forth. In the eastern part of the United States, the limes frequently contain from a third to a half of carbonate of magnesia; and the mortar in which such limes are employed sets very readily.

To sum up, the lime should be slaked as evenly and thoroughly as possible. It should be run off from the slaking bed through a fine sieve into the mortar-bed It should lie there no longer than is absolutely necessary; and if it could be possible to add the hair and sand while the original mixture is sufficiently moist to take up and work the entire amount of the latter material to be added, the resulting mixture would undoubtedly be that much the stronger and more durable.